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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22857532">Star Trek Made This A Lot Cooler Than It Seemed</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShowrunnerIHardlyKnowHer/pseuds/ShowrunnerIHardlyKnowHer'>ShowrunnerIHardlyKnowHer</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Stars At Night, Are Big 'N Bright *clapclapclapclap* Deep In The Heart Of Fucking Outer Space [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Aftermath of Violence, Alien Invasion, Animal Instincts, Animal Traits, Fear, Fear Play, Fearplay, G/T, Giant Aliens, Giant/Tiny, Humans as Prey, Kidnapping, Less of a relationship and more of a one-sided ownership, Little bit of Fluff, Macro/Micro, Mentions of Vore, Micro, Mild Gore, Mild Hurt/Comfort, My first post please be gentle, No Slash, No Smut, Scenting, Soldiers, TINY - Freeform, giant, handheld, humans as pets, just kidding I'm always a slut for gore and fearplay, macro, mainly just the one</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 08:41:19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>20,067</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22857532</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShowrunnerIHardlyKnowHer/pseuds/ShowrunnerIHardlyKnowHer</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Was being enlisted to help fight off an alien battle cool in theory? Sure. Was watching your squad get mercilessly wiped out by a giant humanoid who gave 0 fucks equally cool? Not really. Was accidentally running into the same alien again while alone and unprotected an ideal way to end the day? Little too late to do anything about it now.</p>
<p>It's a good thing the alien thought he looked cuter trembling on the ground than as meaty pulp.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Stars At Night, Are Big 'N Bright *clapclapclapclap* Deep In The Heart Of Fucking Outer Space [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2001229</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>44</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>250</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Jacob Has A Great Day And Everything Is Cool And Well</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Yeehaw my first AO3 post and it's for my self indulgent G/T because giant monster boys and fearplay are too underrated in this community</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>His teammates were right. He </span>
  <em>
    <span>was</span>
  </em>
  <span> a coward.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But at least Jacob could take solace in the fact that his squadron wouldn’t be able to rub in that fact as they so often did at base, given that they lay strewn about on the bloody ground, gore and viscera coating the thick trees in a heavy metallic scent. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was hard to see the total amount of carnage from his cover, not that he necessarily </span>
  <em>
    <span>wanted</span>
  </em>
  <span> to see the gruesome end of about twenty-some soldiers, but from what he could see not a single body lie in tact in the slightest. Organs bursting out of crushed torsos, limbs twisted and discarded like leaves off a stem, bodies torn in half both vertically and horizontally only to be completely flattened on the ground. </span>
  <span>It was a small blessing that his anxiety caused him to skip breakfast, because Jacob was sure he’d be retching if there was anything in his stomach. And, quite frankly, the absolute last thing he wanted to do was to draw any sort of attention to himself lest the creature return to finish its casual massacre.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jacob still couldn’t believe how absolutely massive the thing had been. He remembered when the creatures first arrived months ago, their terrifying figures adorning every newscast and social media feed. Huge, biped beings in black and red uniforms, sleek helmets concealing their faces with two domes jutting out from the top (to accommodate horns some theorized? Maybe antenna?), and evidently armed with some sort of advanced weaponry that was probably as primitive to them as a human wielding a pointed stick.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The chaos was immediate. They weren’t here for peace, for contact, hell, they didn’t even care about declaring a war on mankind. The creatures had a single purpose which was to obtain...</span>
  <em>
    <span>something</span>
  </em>
  <span> that the earth must be rich in, but it was hard to determine what they were so interested in when they began exterminating humans as nothing but common pests as they started to get in the way with their leaders and journalists and armies and tiny arsenals.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But that had been what felt like ages ago despite still being under a year since the invasion first took place. Every able bodied person was drafted into this undeclared war and most went eagerly--some for the belief that they would receive protection with weapons and units to defend themselves, some for the sheer idea of being in an epic intergalactic space war that earth was surely destined to come out on top of. </span>
  <span>Jacob was in neither of these camps, but he was pretty sure at least a third of his former squad was for the latter. </span>
  <span>He was young, barely exiting his teen years and desperately wishing he could go back to when his greatest daily stressor was attempting to take adequate study notes for a college final rather than hoping today he’d be lucky to survive mildly unscathed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A draft was a draft though, and while he wanted nothing more than to hide out in a hole until this whole mess was resolved </span>
  <span>kind of like he was doing at the moment</span>
  <span> he tried to comfort himself with the naive belief that the government of course knew what it was doing, that all the generals and world leaders had devised the perfect plan, that these monsters had some sort of massive weakness and soon they’d be sent packing back to where they came from. </span>
  <span>Obviously whatever plan </span>
  <em>
    <span>this</span>
  </em>
  <span> was wasn’t going to cut it in the long run so maybe they could stop ordering so many troops to partake in it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>To Jacob’s credit, he did manage to find some sort of weak spot if one could call it that. Tiny, mildly annoying, probably only a one in a million lucky shot, but it had still been enough to have his life spared in the midst of this one sided battle.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Running into the creature hadn’t been the goal of the morning. It was merely a basic training test run of how to divide the designated groups and flank the surrounding area, an exercise done hundreds of times before but still refreshed upon as their base had to be relocated often to avoid detection. Technically, they could have still avoided detection as when Jacob’s small group happened upon the giant alien its back was to them, a surprisingly thick fluffy tail swishing lazily while its attention was elsewhere, perhaps in the middle of the task the species originally came to carry out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jacob froze then and there, face and knuckles white and knees locked. Retreat was the first thing on his mind, retreat was the first maneuver they had been</span>
  <em>
    <span> taught</span>
  </em>
  <span>, but suddenly a group of overconfident (and stupid) soldiers came bursting from the right with a hail of bullets and weirdly patriotic declarations. Their cockiness immediately emboldened the other three groups who joined the fray with their own battle cries and haphazardly fired guns, leaving Jacob as the only soldier still partly hidden in the foliage.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>While he was still in awe over how huge the monster was in comparison to a human (he wasn’t even sure if he was any taller than its finger!), it was a bigger fright to see how hundreds of rounds of ammo could be fired point blank at it and have </span>
  <em>
    <span>no effect whatsoever. </span>
  </em>
  <span>The tiny pieces of metal were no more insignificant than being pelted with a handful of pennies, annoying but harmless. What wasn’t quite as harmless, however, was the hand that rushing down to damn near flatten one unlucky soul under its palm, leaving nothing but a deep red smear in the dirt. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>For one shining moment, it almost appeared as if they actually had a real battle going on, one in which there was a chance the humans could claim their first victory over the monsters, even if it was just a single being. The way the humans persevered even as their comrades fell, how the creature was surrounded on all sides, it was like the climatic final fight Hollywood loved to portray in every war of the worlds movie.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Until the humans were wiped out in roughly two minutes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And that’s where Jacob unfortunately came in, the lone survivor who lost any sense of security he had in a matter of seconds with each swipe of the giant’s hand. It was almost mesmerizing how effortlessly those fingers were able to pinch around each ankle of a soldier and rip them apart like a sentient wishbone. Men who were twice as heavy and twice as big as him snatched up and popped with a single squeeze, oozing like a gooey stress ball. </span>
  <span>What really caught Jacob’s attention was how </span>
  <em>
    <span>animated</span>
  </em>
  <span> the creature seemed to be about the brief exchange. Its auburn tail wagged excitedly and it crouched down lower as if to get a better aim on its next pounce, the fingers on its hand always slightly curled like they were claws. For all anyone knew, maybe there </span>
  <em>
    <span>were</span>
  </em>
  <span> actual claws under those black gloves.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But now the platoon was wiped out. There were no more humans to mercilessly hunt despite the prey willingly throwing themselves to be slaughtered. No one except for Jacob, and while he wasn’t sure if the creature had actually spotted him, his latent survival instincts told him to finally raise the gun hanging across his chest and shoot the huge bastard as soon as it appeared it was </span>
  <em>
    <span>maybe</span>
  </em>
  <span> looking in his general direction.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Fate, God, </span>
  <em>
    <span>someone </span>
  </em>
  <span>must have felt generous enough to grant him a small mercy because the creature definitely wasn’t expecting that last pathetic shot to go off next to it, turning its head at the perfect angle for the bullet to find the exact spot it needed at the exact speed and exact trajectory to split a crack completely across the black glassy screen of the helmet that covered its face. If he had to guess, Jacob would assume he must have managed to hit the seam between the two different materials of the helmet, but right now he was less focused on confirming his findings and more worried about </span>
  <em>
    <span>getting the fuck out of there</span>
  </em>
  <span> while it was focused on the superficial damaged it sustained.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>So now Jacob was here. Lost, terrified, alone, with no one to witness his great achievement of actually causing some form of damage to one of the monsters except for said monster, whom he was pretty sure he royally pissed off. He knew he couldn’t stay in this little safe haven forever; even if the creature never found him to finish him off then the elements certainly would. They had started their training escapade at dawn and it was already nearly dusk, the warmth of the day quickly fading out with the sun. If he didn’t attempt to find his way back to base, or any actual camp really, soon then he’d be stranded in the dark </span>
  <em>
    <span>and</span>
  </em>
  <span> the cold with who knows how many other creatures roaming about. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But he really, </span>
  <em>
    <span>really</span>
  </em>
  <span> didn’t want to chance running into the monster again. Jacob wasn’t even sure if it was after him, if it was currently hunting him down for swift revenge. Or maybe slow, torturous revenge with how his luck seemed to be turning out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There was no helping it, he eventually reasoned with himself. He had to get somewhere that was marginally safer than a tight crawl space between thick trees and uneven dirt hills. Besides, he had been curled up there for hours with no sign of the creature once, no sounds or sightings to confirm it was even in the area. Taking one final breath to steady himself, Jacob slowly pulled himself out of his hiding place, heart in his throat and ears straining to hear any movement that could potentially be an eighty foot tall alien with a knack for eviscerating. Only the typical sounds of nature echoed back, but their once comforting tune now only increased the anxiety tangling his insides up. Are the leaves rustling because of the wind or because it's behind him? Have the birds stopped chirping because it’s almost night time or because a predator is near?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Was that creak of wood and resounding crack that followed a weak branch finally losing enough strength to snap off one of the towering trees, or is it the creature reaching through the mass of wooden limbs to pluck him up for his untimely demise?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jacob didn’t bother sticking around to find out, his legs already carrying him at top speed in what he assumed was the opposite direction of the breakage. He can’t remember the last time he ran this fast, can’t remember the last time he had been this scared, but right now all his mind is telling him to do is to run and to not look back and keep going until he miraculously made it to a secure base or bunker or whatever in one piece.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Then, Jacob decided to look back.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The relief was instant to not see anything behind him but it was also fleeting as he failed to take into account that although his legs were indeed running, they couldn’t actually </span>
  <em>
    <span>see </span>
  </em>
  <span>what was in front of them if he wasn’t looking. It was hard to tell if he tripped over some roots or a fallen tree as he went tumbling down the small hillside that was beyond his little obstacle, but at least he only rolled a couple dozen times until he was stopped in a small clearing. </span>
  <span>He groaned softly to himself, pushing himself up on trembling arms while squeezing his eyes shut to ward off the dizziness and wincing at the ache of developing bruises that were sure to litter his body for the next couple weeks. Jacob waited a moment to collect himself, panting to catch his breath and ease a fraction of the tension out of his body. Then, he opened his eyes and looked up to determine where he was and instantly wished he hadn’t.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There, not even thirty feet in front of him, was the same creature from earlier. He could tell it was by the still visible crack that sliced across the middle of the facial feature of the mask. The curious thing was that the mask was actually on the ground on its side, yet somehow he could still see the imposing body facing him on its knees and elbows, one arm laying in front of it on the ground, the other presumably propping its head up.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jacob dared to look up higher at the now exposed face of the monster, wondering in the back of his mind if he was about to be the first and last human to actually see what these aliens looked like under their imposing suits. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but somehow it certainly was not an equally human looking face watching him with a rather bored expression. Short black curls of hair were still slightly matted down from wearing the head gear for so long and much to his surprise two pointed ears with the same auburn colored fur adorned the top of its head. </span>
  <span>Was it sad that what was sure to be his final thought was that now at least </span>
  <em>
    <span>someone</span>
  </em>
  <span> knew what those little dome thingies were for? Probably.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It wasn’t to say that these creatures weren’t unnerving when they were completely concealed and poised for the kill, but there was certainly something a little more perturbing to see such normal and familiar features on the face of what is sure to be mankind’s biggest threat. Well...mostly normal. Just about twenty times bigger combined with canine, or maybe feline, animalistic traits. </span>
  <span>If their sizes had been reversed, Jacob would probably wager that they’d look pretty cute with their fluffy ears and bright green eyes. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But they weren’t, so it was absolutely terrifying.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jacob scrambled backwards until his back was flat against the very hill that had dropped him here, his chest heaving unevenly as he tried to gasp for a single steady breath. Every fiber of his being locked up tight enough to send his whole body into tremors but he simply couldn’t take his eyes off his soon-to-be murderer. He wasn’t sure he really wanted to see his death coming, yet somehow it was better than waiting for the unknown anticipation of teeth or claws to tear into his already bruising flesh. </span>
  <span>The creature seemed to take interest in his panicky movements, half lidded eyes blinking open and ears twitching up. Despite now having full view of its face it didn’t seem like it was a particularly expressive species until a small smile pulled at the corners of its mouth. It was by no means a comforting smile, but Jacob prayed that smiles had the same universal meaning in which the creature wasn’t going to grind him under its heel </span>
  <em>
    <span>just</span>
  </em>
  <span> yet.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>If he didn’t like having the massive thing staring at him before, then he absolutely hated the way it made a curious rumble in the back of its throat as if directing a question at him and he flat out despised when it started to move its arms in order to inch closer to him, leaning down to be at eye level with the tiny human. </span>
  <span>This was it. This was going to be his final act in this world, his last stand as both a soldier and an earthling. He knew he wasn’t going to be making it out of this interaction alive, not when he was caught between a rock and a hard place which happened to be a mouth that could most certainly fit him inside. Had these creatures ever eaten humans? He supposed he’d find out in a minute.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But he wasn’t going to die a coward!</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As the face drew closer to his trembling form Jacob miraculously regained control of his arms and pawed at the gun still slung across his chest. His aim was wobbly and he doubted he’d be able to pull the trigger once before the creature chomped down on him, but by God he wasn’t going to go down without a fight. If he was going to get a death, might as well make it a heroic one. </span>
  <span>Much to his surprise, the creature actually stopped a couple feet away as soon as the barrel of the rifle was pointed at its face. The smile that had once graced its face turned to a deep frown, eyes narrowing dangerously and its tail irritably swaying low. Another rumbling was emitted from its throat but its nature was much more hostile than conversive. A warning.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jacob could hardly fathom that his itsy bitsy ineffective weapon had really been enough to dissuade the creature from coming any closer and nearly took the chance at getting one good blast between its eyes until it </span>
  <em>
    <span>growled</span>
  </em>
  <span> at him. He could practically feel it vibrate through him, enough to shake away the idea of retaliating against the monster. His blood ran cold at the thought that he had given himself away as the nuisance that had damaged its helmet earlier, surely now about to feel its wrath for having the audacity to not know his place as a minuscule pest under this superior race of aliens. </span>
  <span>Or...maybe it just didn’t like weapons pointed at its face like most cognitive beings? Well, Jacob didn’t necessarily appreciate having his kind snuffed out like an infestation on his own planet, but it’s not like he could just bare his teensy teeth as a warning to back off!</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Hesitantly, Jacob lowered his gun to be cradled against his chest once more, shaking tenfold and watching with impossibly wide eyes to ensure he didn’t piss off the creature anymore than he had in that single moment. In an instant the same playful smile returned as soon as there was no “threat”. He was thankful his little sign of submission was enough to please the creature into not snapping his head off his shoulders.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He was also paralyzed when the monster suddenly darted forward, pressing its face into Jacob’s thin body and pinning him tightly against the dirt behind him. The horrified squeak that escaped him was embarrassingly pitiful, though apparently quite amusing to the creature as he could feel the lips currently pressed across his chest split into a grin, its nose eagerly rubbing along the crook of his neck. </span>
  <span>His skin felt like it was being roasted from the encompassing body heat that was gingerly nuzzling against him and his body shook both in fear and due to the light purrs that seemed to travel through him with each even exhale the creature took. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>It’s fine, it’s fine, I’m fine, it’s okay,</span>
  </em>
  <span> he mentally chanted, swallowing back a whimper when it nosed at his hair, </span>
  <em>
    <span>It’s just like a cat, cats are nice, it’s safe, I’m safe, it’s happy, it won’t hurt me, I’m okay I’m okay I’m okay I’m ok-</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The calm moment ended when the creature opened its mouth, pointed fangs momentarily brushing Jacob’s torso as it swiftly bit down on his rifle, shredding the metal like tinfoil between its powerful teeth. It pulled back slightly, the mangled remains of his only weapon still visible between its lips as it unceremoniously spat out the bits of shrapnel onto the ground. It was almost cute how it stuck out the tip of its tongue and frowned at the mess, clearly displeased at the taste of cold oiled metal and gunpowder.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But it wasn’t cute. It was giant and deadly and terrifying and </span>
  <em>
    <span>just chewed up his gun in one bite like it was candy. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Was that why it wanted to get so close to him? To bite off his gun before it bit off his arms?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The option to fight, if such a thing had even existed in the first place, was completely taken from him. Jacob’s only potential success in survival was to run anywhere that wasn’t here, maybe hop down another burrow and wither away in the safety of his own little grave. At least it would be an ending </span>
  <em>
    <span>he</span>
  </em>
  <span> chose, much better than being used as target practice. Or becoming an evening snack. </span>
  <span>Utilizing the small opening between the hill and the alien, Jacob’s shaky legs did their best to scurry out from beneath the monster and hightail it out of this clearing. At least in the thick of the woods the old trees would provide a bit of a challenge to it as it’d maneuver through and hopefully shield the direction his little form was racing off in.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He was close. A few more yards and he’d be in the safety of nature once more, he’d have a higher chance at making it through the night than surviving another minute out in the open with that thing. But like all his plans leading up to this moment, this one was destined to fail as splendidly as the others.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jacob couldn’t see the shadow falling over him now that it was twilight hour but he could feel the rush of warm air against his back, something roughly yanking on the back of his uniform until the ground disappeared from under his feet. He thrashed wildly and cried out, his hands trying to strike at whatever was responsible for the grip on his uniform. It wasn’t until he made contact with something smooth and hard rather than soft flesh that it dawned on him he could still feel puffs of air tousling his hair, that he had been grabbed and was currently being held in the creature’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>mouth</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Stop!” he cried, tears finally streaming down his ruddy cheeks as hopelessness overcame him, “Stop, stop, stop, </span>
  <em>
    <span>please</span>
  </em>
  <span>! Let me-let me go!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Either by coincidence or because the alien could actually understand english, he was indeed released a couple feet off the ground in front of it, its massive arms loosely caging him in. It was fully laying on its stomach now, tail swishing in interest and slightly propped on its elbows to be able to fully observe Jacob where he lay in his unofficial prison. </span>
  <span>It took an agonizing minute for him to suck some air back into his lungs after being completely winded by the drop, but as soon as he no longer struggled to breathe his arms and legs were already pushing him to get up, body swaying from pain and disorientation but nonetheless determined to make a break for it. He stumbled towards the left towards a small gap between its bicep and chest only for it to slide its arm back, effectively closing off the opening and causing Jacob to slip onto his bottom as he tried to skid to a stop rather than run into the arm.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He pushed himself away and hurried to get back on his feet, nearly tripping in his haste to run in the opposite direction. It was too good to be true with the amount of distance he was able to make, his seedling of optimism crushed as two fingers came into view and softly batted him back, sending Jacob sprawling to the ground once more with a tired whine.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He </span>
  <em>
    <span>was</span>
  </em>
  <span> tired. Physically, mentally, emotionally, he wanted nothing more than to curl up on his apartment couch and sleep away the trauma for the next eight years. Instead, all he could do was curl up on the cold hard ground, choking back sobs as his body shook in effort to get him standing again. He looked up briefly through the haze of tears at his tormentor, quickly picking up on how its pupils were blown wide and its fingers drummed eagerly on the ground.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This was a </span>
  <em>
    <span>game. </span>
  </em>
  <span>It had probably always been a game, at least between them. A game Jacob had no hope in ever winning, not when </span>
  <em>
    <span>he</span>
  </em>
  <span> was the prize. He felt his resolve shatter then and there at the realization, eyes once fearful now pleading and desperate. It was getting harder to control his ragged breathing, his exhausted body pitching to the side and would have sent him tumbling to the ground had it not been for the hand that caught him mid fall. He acted like his whole body had been shocked in how he shoved himself away from the touch, wanting to sprint away from its hand and arm and entire being. </span>
  <span>His sprint was more like a drunken power walk as he fought to make sense of what was in front of him through his increasingly blurry vision. Jacob was positive it wasn’t just the tears that were making him see fuzzy doubles, his head feeling like it was filling up with a thick fog and it was only a matter of time before his thoughts suffocated.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Please, I don’t...I don’t know what you </span>
  <em>
    <span>want</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” he slurred, voice weak and throat dry, “Just </span>
  <em>
    <span>stop</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jacob had nothing more to say as his eyes rolled into the back of his head and his body went limp, careening forward to the open hand he had been stumbling towards unknowingly. His vision was black and the sounds of the world began to fade out, his last conscience thought being how likely it’d be he would wake up from this. At this point, he hoped it was zip.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>--</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Oh. This seemed like an awfully inconvenient time to fall asleep, but with how much smaller these beings were he wondered if they burned through their energy that much faster. Still, if that were the case then it was truly puzzling to understand how such a species was able to survive against the other nature predators of the land if they were to pass out only minutes into the chase.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Using his free hand, Edix nudged the earthling to roll onto its back into his palm, curling his fingers around the lithe body slightly to prevent it from sliding off as he lifted it up along with himself, minding to rise slowly so he didn’t jar the creature too much. He raised it closer to get a better look, noting the leaking of its eyes and awfully pale complex, almost looking sickly compared to his own dark tan skin. Maybe it </span>
  <em>
    <span>was </span>
  </em>
  <span>sick. Maybe it was actually </span>
  <em>
    <span>dead. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Damn these little creatures are easy to kill if a tiny bit of playing was enough to make it keel over.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He placed his index finger over its chest and could thankfully feel its ribcage rising and falling, the faintest little thrumming beating in rhythm with each breath. For once he was glad to have a human still alive in his company. Usually when they were cradled in his hand like this it was because they were seconds away from having their squishy bodies crushed between his fingers and leaking their bright red innards.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It wasn’t that he necessarily disliked these tiny little beings, in fact the small scale of their strikingly similar profile made them quite adorable when they had first made contact with the planet. And with how all their advancements were so miniature and so outdated in comparison? He wondered how earthlings had sustained this way of life with no predators for so long, knowing there were plenty of other spacefaring species that would absolutely jump on the chance of rounding up and selling them in storefronts advertised in darling little collars and bows. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Or to eat them. To each his own, he supposed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Was killing the lifeforms on this planet originally part of the plan? Of course not. They detected the various forms of flora and fauna beforehand to ensure extraction would be safe for the team, but they hadn’t accounted for how </span>
  <em>
    <span>territorial</span>
  </em>
  <span> humans were to the terrain. Some of his teammates had already voiced their displeasure at having to rid these pests from their workspace to do their research in peace but it seemed more out of annoyance than remorse. A small handful commented on how their appearance made them feel a little uneasy yet all that did to sway them was to grant the creatures a faster, painless demise rather than those who might as well find a little fun in the hunt.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Edix rubbed his finger against its chest gently, trailing up to squish at its baby fat cheeks and smooth down the misplaced hair, the latter being a useless endeavor as the short strands seemed intent on sticking up where they pleased. </span>
  <em>
    <span>This</span>
  </em>
  <span> was the type of human he had no problem with: the docile kind, the ones who tried to keep away and didn’t feel the need to charge him like a rabid beast hellbent on death.  </span>
  <span>It had been so scared and alone, armed only with a simplistic weapon it was too petrified to even use properly. Honestly, how did it expect to make it very far, let alone actually take on one of his kind? Humans travelled in packs he had noted and with how tiny (well, tiny by human standards) it was he wondered if it had perhaps been exiled from its group as the runt. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe the aforementioned pack was the one that had felt it was their duty to bother him in the middle of data collecting with their yowls and explosive weapons earlier in the day. Oh well, good riddance for one of them, at least.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Poor thing had nothing to worry about! Edix could tell by its less than graceful landing next to him it hadn’t intentionally come looking for him, it wasn’t even aware enough of its surroundings to notice him until he crouched next to it. Now </span>
  <em>
    <span>that </span>
  </em>
  <span>had certainly triggered a response from it, but rather than scurry away or lash out at its perceived threat it instead went and cornered itself with Edix inadvertently blocking its easiest escape.  </span>
  <span>He tried to present himself in a less threatening manner, lowering his body so he didn’t appear quite as big making soft noises in the back of his throat in the hopes it would understand he wasn’t hostile. At least he wasn’t until it shakily pointed that damn metal stick at his face. He hated those things, how loud they were and the strange little pinprick stains they left on his suit. One of those little discharges even managed to crack his visor in some stroke of luck! It was just so </span>
  <em>
    <span>annoying </span>
  </em>
  <span>seeing that thin little line right under his eyes across the internal computer screen of his helmet, it was why he finally had to just take it off for the time being until he could repair it back at his base setup.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The creature may not be a hundred percent savvy in the art of survival, but was still intelligent enough to pick up on the cues that it was best not to ruin this peaceful interaction doing something very stupid. And while it did willingly disarm itself its apprehension still remained, probably frightened even more at the idea of being unable to defend itself at all. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Edix attempted to ease the tiny creature’s worries by displaying the classic affection of scent marking, nuzzling the trembling body while also taking advantage to inhale the otherworldly smell that clung solely to these land mammals that he had observed. Most of them had the same underlying tone of copper and some sort of bitter musk, but on this one he could pick up faint hints of sweet floral and something...warm? Cozy? It was pleasant and the precious little noise it made when he touched him made it all the more enjoyable. </span>
  <span>And while he was here, he might as well do something about that nuisance that was strapped to the being’s front before it tried to get anymore ideas.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He already knew how weak the weapon was, but he wasn’t expecting just how malleable it would be and admittedly snapped his teeth a touch too aggressively against the sweet little thing. He could feel its whole body stiffen like stone, probably trying to process if he had actually taken a bite out of </span>
  <em>
    <span>it</span>
  </em>
  <span> rather than the sour tasting wreckage in his mouth, but at least this time it had sense enough to flee rather than further submit to the notion of being some type of prey.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Unfortunately for it, now it kind of was. He truly didn’t mean to scare the creature so badly and he already knew that there was just no way it’d have a chance of making it out there even if it was its own native environment. Of course, that was partially his fault, but it’s not like it would have fared much better with a weapon it clearly had no instinct to use. And, really, it was just so </span>
  <em>
    <span>cute </span>
  </em>
  <span>with its wide eyes and baby face, Edix couldn’t bear the thought of it perishing when he was more than happy to adore it. </span>
  <span>It was fast, possibly its only redeeming survival trait, but ultimately he was the one with the size advantage who merely had to sit up and lean to the left to be able to grab it by its scruff like a bite-sized pup. It made it very clear it was not a fan of this, clawing its itty bitty little hands and yelling out incomprehensible words, however Edix had to make amends and teach it that his teeth were not something it needed to panic about.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He dropped the squirming creature back on the safety of the ground once he made himself comfortable in a new position, none too surprised when it immediately sought a way to escape the confines of his arms. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t entertained watching how it fruitlessly tried to outrun the speed at which his hands could block off open gaps, not that it would even be out of arm's length should it manage to slip past his fingers, still easy enough to snag around the waist and plop right back in front of him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>With each block the earthling was clearly growing more tired, little legs having trouble keeping a constant high speed and almost giving out quite a few times. It looked up at him with its wet face and utterly heartbroken expression that showed it wasn’t having any fun </span>
  <em>
    <span>at all</span>
  </em>
  <span> with this new arrangement. He moved his hand closer to the tiny creature to assist it when it looked as if it was going to fall again as a small offering of comfort rather than sprawling on the dirt once more, but it recoiled from his touch the second it made contact, from distrust or displeasure he wasn’t entirely sure.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He could barely hear it make soft keening noises in whatever language it communicated in, a harsh contrast to the typical howls and hard sounds its species more often than not made when in the presence of one of his kind. It was hard to see what exactly it was trying to do when its swaying back was to him, but he didn’t think it really wanted to fall face first into his open hand, at least he assumed as much with how little it seemed to enjoy any form of contact moments prior. </span>
  <span>Was it possible it was playing dead, waiting for Edix to lose interest and discard its body, giving it the chance to dart off as soon as he looked away? He nudged at the limp figure with his thumb, getting only a pitiful whine as a response. Whatever sleep it was in must have been deep but as evident by the still present knit brows and tight lips, it wasn’t a very peaceful slumber. He brought it up to his face and leaned down to nuzzle at it just as he had earlier, gently rubbing against its chest and head and pleased to already note his own scent lingering on it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When he pulled away a moment later he couldn’t help the smile that broke across his face when he saw how the little one had seemed to further relax from the brief cuddle, the creases in its expression smoothing out into a more restful appearance as it was unable to protest the comfort Edix had been trying to show it. Hopefully that meant it would be more receptive to his affection when it awoke, but he supposed only time would tell.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Edix lowered the earthling to cup it against his chest for secure traveling, going gooey-eyed and cooing when the sweet little thing instinctively curled up against the source of warmth while it slept. He leaned down to retrieve his helmet with the intent of finally repairing it when he had the proper tools back at his base, freezing when he felt it stir against him from the movement. Goodness, he was acting like he was cradling a newborn rather than a </span>
  <em>
    <span>somewhat</span>
  </em>
  <span> mature palm sized earthling, but in his defense both were equally helpless and adorable. He brushed his thumb against its side while deep rumblings vibrated through his chest and throat as a way to settle back down, having to remind himself repeatedly to look up to see where he was going as he began to make his way back to base.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And if anyone asked, it was simply a little stray that deserved a nice rehoming with him.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>You know originally I decided that out of my top 3 current G/T story ideas this one should be my first post because it worked the best as a oneshot whereas the others were already preplanned to be multi chaptered.</p><p>And now I done went and outlined a whole second part that might be big enough to split into two chapters C O O L</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. A Great Day Of Bonding Where Absolutely No One Hates This Ordeal</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>What's more fun than waking up in an unfamiliar location and then spending the entire afternoon being hunted for sport? Literally anything else.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This little number has been sitting in my Google Docs for weeks but its midnight and I have work tomorrow so much like every college essay I've written I'm gonna hope that it's good enough tonight and then immediately regret my actions in the morning. </p>
<p>Also my girlfriend keeps asking me if she can read my fic and I'm like no babe I want to continue having a relationship with you and I don't know if that'd be possible if you knew the trash I was into</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Jacob could hardly be considered awake, but he was still vaguely aware of what was going on in the moment.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The exhaustion that ran through him was bone deep, leaving him feeling like his entire being was made of lead yet was still able to float through a haze of barely conscious thoughts. It was near impossible for him to currently recall what had happened prior to his blissful state of unconsciousness, but then again he didn’t really put much effort in trying to remember. Too much energy, not enough caring. All he knew now was that his body and head no longer ached, his stomach finally uncoiled from its knot and limbs feeling like jelly. He was warm, perhaps a little too hot, yet still he craved this strange vibrating source of heat over another night of fitful sleep on the cold, uneven ground between base relocations.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It felt like he had been encased in this cocoon of comfort for both an eternity and for barely five minutes, both insufficient amounts of time in his book. The heat quickly faded away much to displeasure, enough so that he could feel his eyes use every ounce of strength they possessed to try and crack open in an attempt to seek out the relief that had been taken from him. Jacob saw maybe a millimeter strip of blinding light in his cloudy vision before his eyes slipped close once more, partly because he was absolutely not in the mood to deal with such a bright surrounding but mostly at the warm, wet pressure that glided across his back in slow strokes. He complained with a soft groan when that, too, was removed after only a couple of passes but found he simply didn’t have the energy to argue much further, sleep quickly tugging him down into a deeper embrace.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He felt like there was something he was forgetting, but it must not be too important.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>...</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The next time Jacob woke up it was as if all his previous aches and pains had as well.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Unfortunately, he was not granted the same luxury of immediately drifting back off as he had done before, forced to acknowledge the dull throbs that settled in nearly every muscle while an ungodly headache furiously pounded behind his eyes. He was loathe to open them, knowing whatever amount of light he took in would only worsen his pain and instead opted to continue laying on his stomach until the intensity of his discomfort settled into something more manageable.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And then he remembered why he was in pain in the first place.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The drill. The massacre. The monster. The </span>
  <em>
    <span>teeth</span>
  </em>
  <span>. The...fainting?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The last part was still a little muddled in his head, somewhat remembering being handled just as his vision went black, but at the time he assumed he was dead. Or soon to be once the creature lost interest in its new toy now that it would no longer run about. Evidently, he wasn’t dead, at least he didn’t think he was. Did he wish he was dead? A little bit. It’d probably be a lot more relaxing than going back out there to live in a ruined world overrun with gigantic hybrid aliens with no qualms about genocide milling about.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Speaking of them, where exactly was the one that so wonderfully spent the afternoon with him? Keep his eyes shut tight, Jacob tried to focus on his surroundings as best he could with his remaining senses. He was lying on something cool and hard, but it didn’t smell like the damp soil or grass he had grown accustomed to and with the lack of chill and birdsong he figured he must be inside somewhere. Something twitched against his back and it was then that he finally took into account the light weight that was draped over his body. Whatever it was was keeping him quite warm, making minimal movements every so often but never completely sliding off of him. When Jacob carefully flexed his fingers he could feel them brush along soft strains of something thick and long, perhaps he was covered in some sort of blanket?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Hesitantly he cracked open his eyes, muscling through the pain as they adjusted to the bright light and started to focus, the blurs unmerging themselves from one another into identifiable shapes and edges. He had to blink a few times to make the world stop tilting but once it stabilized he was able to confirm that he was indeed </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> outside at all. In fact, he was inside something completely unfamiliar, where everything was too big and too clean and too bright and too quiet to be human made.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But this environment wasn’t meant for a human, it was meant for one of those </span>
  <em>
    <span>creatures</span>
  </em>
  <span>. His upward gaze shifted to the side only to land on the same alien that had been torturing him since this morning (or yesterday? How long had he been out?). It was sitting cross legged beside him, helmet in its lap and a strange pen-looking device tracing over the visor as it concentrated keeping its hand steady, more than likely doing something about the crack Jacob caused before. He wondered if it knew it had been </span>
  <em>
    <span>him </span>
  </em>
  <span>who had the audacity to get a lucky shot at its advanced technology, but if it did it didn’t make that fact known.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jacob watched it silently, scarcely moving a muscle in fear of alerting it that he was awake and therefore ready to be subjected to whatever it saw fit. A vivisection? Give him a head start and hunt him down a la The Most Dangerous Game? Maybe it just wanted to see him struggle as it crushed in his ribcage under its thumb. He knew he couldn’t pretend to be asleep forever though, but it wasn’t like he was able to formulate some sort of functional plan while he had been in dreamland. His “blanket” twitched against his back once again and as he finally noticed the auburn fur that tickled over his bare hands did he realize it had him curled up under its </span>
  <em>
    <span>tail</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The creature shifted its arms beside him and he sucked in a gasp, clenching his eyes shut and digging his nails into his palm until he drew beads of blood to keep himself from trembling too obviously. The tail lifted off of him as the creature carefully stood with slow movements, like it was taking care not to disturb what it thought was Jacob’s deep sleep. Or possibly it was trying not to step on him and thus never have the chance at giving him a more entertaining end. There was silence for a moment and Jacob was almost tempted to open his eyes until he picked up the sound of shifting fabric, doing all he could to keep his body from spasming in panic when he felt a firm pressure settle on his back, rubbing up and down the curve of his spine a few times before pulling away. Heavy footsteps echoed away and only when they were at their faintest did he take a risk to peek open an eye. He was alone, the creature having left momentarily with its tools and helmet to do...whatever it was those things did, he guessed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was a window of opportunity and Jacob had no idea how fast it was shutting. He also had no idea where the fuck he even was or how to get out of here, but it was better to have the chance to figure it out now than to never be able to later when he was a pile of broken bones on the smooth white floor. Despite the way his body screamed at him as he forced it to get up and </span>
  <em>
    <span>fucking move dammit go! </span>
  </em>
  <span>he could feel a new shot of adrenaline course through him, hardly as much as before when it was his first fight or flight showdown but enough to get him sprinting across the ground and towards the first opening he saw--a vent shaft that was about a foot smaller than himself on the far wall.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Just as he squeezed his body through the grates did he hear the sound of returning footfalls on the other side of the wall, a hallway perhaps? That could remain a question to ponder for the rest of his life as he decided he was much more interested in following this metal pipe to an exit rather than stick around when the creature was to see that the game of chase was on again. The narrow tubing was a bit of a pain to navigate given that he couldn’t stand at his full height and as such couldn’t run very easily, but he was thankful for the protection of being encased by the metal and walls, totally out of reach if the thing was able to tell he was still in the base.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He hoped.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>--</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He </span>
  <em>
    <span>knew</span>
  </em>
  <span> the second he left the little earthling alone it would be the exact moment it decided to wake up and scurry off somewhere, and yet he still did it anyways.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Edix huffed as he stared at the now empty spot on his workspace floor where the human had once occupied, drumming the side of his helmet that was recalibrating under his arm while trying to think where such a tiny thing would be able to hide itself in an unfamiliar territory. He had only been gone a minute, just long enough to put his tools away, and he even checked before he left that it was still completely unresponsive to him! Now he potentially had a loose human running around and inadvertently (or intentionally, they seemed to crave destruction after all) tearing up the inner wiring and mechanics of his base.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Humans really were little pests, weren’t they?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>No matter, it clearly hadn’t been gone for too long as its previous sleeping spot was still thick with its scent, heavily saturated by his own and trailing in a thankfully straight line to the nearest wall. At least it didn’t waste its time running in circles to look for any type of cover, though Edix probably would have been able to catch it before it had the chance to hide away if it had, but this was much easier to track at least. Its tracks ended at the small vent unit on the floor and honestly he didn’t even think it would have been able to slip through such narrow grates, it certainly wouldn’t be able to stand up in it, but then again it </span>
  <em>
    <span>was</span>
  </em>
  <span> awfully small compared to the other earthlings he had dealt with. How lucky for it to be able to squeeze into the one duct that had direct access to the outside.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>How lucky for Edix to know exactly where the exit was before the little human did.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>--</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>God</span>
  </em>
  <span> he had to be walking in circles, there was simply no other way that Jacob could be covering so much ground and still not make any distance!</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As if the base wasn’t big enough already, it was apparently equipped with a handful of extra rooms that all connected to the same shaft he was trying to navigate, creating several forks in the road and leading him to always pick the wrong one. He swore that if he had managed to loop back around and ended up in the dead end that overlooked what he assumed was a sleeping quarter one more time…</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After the first few minutes of transversing through this new escape route Jacob had given up on trying to walk partially hunched over, his joints and muscles already aching quite enough at the moment to put any extra strain on them, and instead opted for crawling along the cold metal ground. The freezing touch continually made his body seize in shivers and almost made him miss the blissfully burning warmth that radiated from his captor, but he’d much rather be frozen solid to the core than to </span>
  <em>
    <span>ever </span>
  </em>
  <span>let that thing near him again. There was still no telling what exactly it wanted to do with him, it obviously had something planned if it felt it necessary to carry him back to its own personal base yet Jacob couldn’t shake the dread that its intentions were probably more sinister than hospitable. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The adrenaline that had fueled his escape had depleted long ago, practically the second he was within the safety of the vent and as such his movements were becoming much more sluggish than before. Everything hurt, he was aware that he had not eaten or drank and probably over a day yet he couldn’t stomach the thought of trying to put anything in his body right now, and between the attempts at running for his life he had probably only slept a couple of hours at best. But he </span>
  <em>
    <span>had</span>
  </em>
  <span> to get out of here, he had to get back to his own damn species and away from this nightmare, he had to survive, he was so so so close!</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Actually...he was more than close. He was </span>
  <em>
    <span>there</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Where the shaft split off into two separate directions Jacob was immediately drawn to the faint light that peeked invitingly at the end of the path to his right. As he continued down it he could make out sounds that weren’t the same rhythmic whirring or contracting metal that echoed around him, sounds of birds and dry leaves rustling, sound of the outdoors…! Hope dared to swell in his heart as he hurried his clumsy pace, the dim light revealing itself to be that of the rising sun and with how little it seemed to illuminate Jacob figured it was maybe only an hour or two past sunrise. When he reached the grates that blocked him from returning to his sweet freedom he was relieved to see they were the same build as the one inside with slots just wide enough for him to wiggle his small frame through. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As soon as he was able to shimmy his hips past the opening he collapsed to the ground in an exhausted heap, thankful for the feeling of dewy grass and soft soil under his hands and the morning sun barely warming his back. He would never complain about training exercises and relocations again, he would do them a hundred times a day so long as it meant he would be able hold onto the mundane comfort that these sprawling woods gave him, ensuring him that he was still alive and safe on his own planet in the midst of it all.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And then the ground disappeared from under him for the second time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jacob didn’t even register the pressure that was pinched around his waist until he was able to click that he was dangling in the air, the delightful sensation of being spread on the ground ripped away as he felt his whole body start to spin. Really, he was only moved from laying prone to now hanging vertically, but it was enough to make his empty stomach clench with nausea and he braced his hands on the material that was wrapped around his lower half, trying to will away the sickness by focusing on the distant ground punctuated by a soft whine. Half of his mind wondered how he managed to end up suspended in the air while the other half blatantly knew why he had been so rudely taken from his safe haven but honestly wasn’t in the mood to try and process anymore trauma, therefore if he didn’t look up and pretended not to see the massive crouched alien in front of him then surely it wasn’t there at all.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Something pressed against his cheek and Jacob instantly snapped his head to the side, regretting that decision immediately when stars blotted his vision and his arms threatened to give out on supporting him upright. He weakly kicked his legs where they dangled freely from this two fingered grip as if the heels of his boots tapping against the curled fingers behind him would magically free him from the creature’s hold, but it was all he could muster to do at the moment. There were plenty of things he wished he </span>
  <em>
    <span>could</span>
  </em>
  <span> do--shoot it, claw at it, cry, beg, run--but it was as if all his natural survival instincts knew it was worthless to even try, ready to accept his fate for making the mistake of pissing it off one time too many.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The touch returned to the side of his face but he merely squeezed his eyes close and whimpered, heart jumping to his throat when the feeling started to move back and forth in a gentle petting motion. When the affection had yet to take a turn for the gruesome Jacob allowed his eyes to slide open and finally acknowledge the creature, tears shining but refusing to fall just yet. His breath hitched in fear when he found himself in the reflection of a newly repaired, pitch black visor as opposed to its bare face it probably never intended to show him anyways. Despite how unsettlingly human-looking it was, he realized that he preferred it over the blank helmet that masked its expressions, effectively hiding any emotions or cues Jacob could pick up to vaguely tell what it was thinking.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Can...can you put me d-down...please?” He asked in a wavering voice, trying to swallow back his nervousness for making such a request after he had gone and been a nuisance to it with almost every interaction, “I-I don’t feel good this h-high up…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The creature tilted its head at his question and Jacob began to anxiously claw at the sturdy material of its gloves, worried that he had offended it with his impudence when it remained silent and had yet to return him to the ground. Then again, what was the likelihood that the universal language of all intelligent life was conveniently going to be english? He flattened his palms and pushed against the digit that was against his abdomen to better show what he was trying to convey, squirming and kicking his legs a little harder in what he hoped was a clear display at his dislike of being held.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The hand holding him shifted and he thought his charades had actually pulled through until the hand that had been idly stroking his face removed itself to instead cup under his dangling legs, easing them into a kneeling position until he was completely sitting in its palm. Its fingers released his waist but still remained curled behind him, allowing Jacob to freely move if he desired while still within the secure confines of its hands, ready to snap shut like a venus fly trap if he had the gall to try and leap out. Not that he would, even as the creature moved to sit down cross-legged he was still several stories in the air and didn’t see the appeal of jumping down only to pulverize every bone in his body when he crashed into the ground he had so graciously called a comfort.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ah, no, that’s not what I m-meant!” Jacob winced, shrinking back against the fingers as if he could somehow create a little more distance between the two of them. He wrapped his arms around himself tight enough that his whole body shook, keeping his head bowed to avert his gaze and avoid being at the center of its attention though it was foolish to even try.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He should have just dodged the draft like the coward he is.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>--</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Oh, the poor little sweetheart looked absolutely </span>
  <em>
    <span>miserable</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>To be fair, it never looked particularly well during any of their interactions, almost like it was constantly on the verge of heaving. Or crying. Sometimes actually crying, other times like it just wanted to keel over as if that was preferable to being in his company. Maybe it </span>
  <em>
    <span>was</span>
  </em>
  <span>, but Edix had yet to do anything to warrant such a reaction from the tiny being in his opinion. Yeah, sure, maybe he’s killed a couple dozen humans and maybe he did so in a way that was a little more violent than necessary, but in his defense it was merely instinct to have a bit of fun during a hunt. And they were annoying. And it wasn’t like he let the same fate befall this little one!</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He sighed softly through his nose, ignoring the way the earthling squeaked when he moved his thumb down to rub its hair (it was so </span>
  <em>
    <span>weird</span>
  </em>
  <span> not seeing any ears on top of its head, poor hearing was probably just another downfall of its species) and weigh his options. It would probably be best to just release it, let it return to its own kind and not have to worry about constantly chasing the anxious little thing down every eight seconds. On the other hand...well, it was just too adorable! What an awful twist it would be if he let the tiny human go to rejoin a new pack only to be wiped about by another of his race, one who probably wouldn’t stop to notice its big doe eyes and soft sounds and the way it shied from any form of attention only to demand it in the comfort of sleep. Darling or not, would it really be worth the effort to care for this lifeform on top of his current duties, especially with its fixation on running off despite a zero percent success rate?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mmm, yes. Yes it was.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But what to do about the whole </span>
  <em>
    <span>trying-to-run-away-whether-my-eyes-are-on-you-or-not </span>
  </em>
  <span>situation. Edix knew it was merely a natural survival instinct for prey species when even remotely confronted by a predator, however this reaction had yet to wane even after he had done his best to convey that he had no intentions of causing it harm. He could hardly see the appeal of wanting to continue this sad way of life on this planet with their laughably pathetic defense systems and advancements that were on par with the dark ages, why not take a ride to explore a proper modern civilization, to trek through a universe these beings would never hope to reach, to be spoiled with protection and endearment that he was sure the little one was all but starved of. He could make its life so much better if it would just cooperate!</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Even now the human was restless, constantly shifting and squirming with no real reason to. Perhaps that was part of the problem, being wound up on the urge to flee and needing a way to get all this energy and subsequent emotion out of its system. If it physically tired itself out then maybe that would allow it to think rationally for just a moment in regards to the whole situation; after all, the last time it had spent its limited energy it became much more open in terms of receiving affectionate gestures. Then again, it's not like it had a say in fighting back given that it was unconscious, but it still subconsciously relaxed under any of his touches, so he counted that as a win.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Edix slowly lowered his hands, a gentle trill escaping his throat when the movement startled the little one almost back to full panic with its immediate reaction being to cling to his thumb that had been stroking it, for balance or for comfort he wasn’t sure. As much as this earthling loved to kick up a fuss it didn’t seem to focused on making a mad dash to freedom like it usually tried, even when he removed the cupped hand behind it and flattened the hand it was seated in as best he could on the ground. It was a clear and open invitation to return to solid ground, yet its gaze remained locked directly at his face. Well, </span>
  <em>
    <span>visor</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Its watery eyes were wide but its pupils were dilated, a minute tremor still ringing through its tiny body and it looked as though it was expecting something from him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Probably something </span>
  <em>
    <span>unpleasant</span>
  </em>
  <span>, but that would never be the case.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>--</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was doing something, but the problem was that Jacob couldn’t tell </span>
  <em>
    <span>what.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He wasn’t expecting the creature to suddenly bring him back to the wonderful stable ground, not after it had appeared so content in watching and petting him. He almost didn’t believe that it was actually letting him free of its hold until it tilted its hand to guide him off its palm which resulted in him borderline tumbling off and landing on his side. Scrambling back to his feet, Jacob took several steps back to give himself the sense of just a little bit of personal space, his focus never wavering from the monster who sat calmly and quietly as it always did. Did it know that he wanted to be put down? Did it understand him? Why hadn’t it done it when he first asked?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jacob had been so focused on its face, or lack thereof, trying to piece together some sort of explanation for its behavior with its facial expressions hidden away that he didn’t notice the hand reaching towards him until it was too late to dodge it. His body tensed as it waited to be grabbed yet again only to be granted a small mercy of just two fingers making contact, softly pushing him backwards a few more steps with an encouraging chirp. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Y-you…” Jacob strained to think what it was trying to tell him, eyebrows knitting from worry to confusion, “You want me to...leave?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Of course, the creature couldn’t understand him, but it repeated the motion of carefully pushing him back until he was almost out of arm's reach. He kept wringing at the hem of his jacket the more it moved him away, too frightened and perplexed by this shift in attitude. Usually this creature couldn’t keep its damn hands off him, as if being conveniently sized meant he enjoyed being snatched up, however now it seemed to be telling him to...go away? Had it finally had its fill of mentally torturing him?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He took two more hesitant steps back, then another three, watching the monster intently to pick up any signs that he was angering it with his departure. He raised his hands to his chest to placate any feelings of malcontent it might have towards him, hopefully seeing that he was doing as what he thought was instructed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m...I’m gonna go now.” His legs were already shaking in anticipation, “So, um, b-bye, okay?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And then he bolted.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Trees and foliage whizzed passed him as he pushed his body to the absolute top speed it could manage in his current condition, nowhere near as fast as the first time adrenaline fueled him as he ran for his life but still creating a hefty amount of distance between the two of them in only a few moments. His legs and lungs were already burning from the exertion, clearly in dire need of proper rest yet Jacob refused to slow his pace, ignoring the way his vision was starting to darken at the edges and the blistering heat that resulted from blood rushing to his face. He felt like he had run a marathon and he had no idea whether he actually cleared a distance of 5K or if he barely made a quarter mile.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Whatever length he had sprinted unfortunately wasn’t enough as usual when a large figure suddenly came bounding in front of him, crouched low and tail wagging high with its hands curled on the ground in preparation for grabbing. Jacob immediately skidded to a halt, his momentum throwing him backwards when he suddenly stopped and landed on his bottom with a startled yelp. How the hell did this thing catch up with him already!? How had he not even heard it coming!? He felt like he couldn’t breathe as he stared at the pitiful reflection of himself in the creature’s visor, in part from his vigorous exercise but mostly because </span>
  <em>
    <span>clearly</span>
  </em>
  <span> running off wasn’t what the creature wanted him to do at all, and if he didn’t find a way to explain himself soon he wasn’t sure how much patience it would have left with his antics.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A hand beside him moved up and he was sure it was going to come crashing down on top of him, flattening him like a pesky insect. Instead it went to cover where he presumed its mouth was as if it was trying to hide it, its shoulders shaking slightly while a soft noise was muffled behind its helmet.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Was it...was it </span>
  <em>
    <span>laughing</span>
  </em>
  <span> at him?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Objectively, he supposed it was funny in the same way one would hide from a friend only to jump out when they least expected it to elicit some sort of wild reaction, usually at the friend’s expense. Had it amused itself by making Jacob almost piss himself in sudden terror and fall flat on his ass? Well, </span>
  <em>
    <span>he</span>
  </em>
  <span> wasn’t amused by this little ambush at all, but he supposed his opinion still had yet to matter to the monster. The hand that had been hiding what was sure to be a mischievous grin (not that it matter, it was still wearing a full cranium helmet) lowered back towards him to scoop its fingers under his back and help ease him back into a full standing position.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That was...rather nice of it, even if Jacob still squirmed away from the contact and almost fell again. As soon as he had gotten his bearings those same two fingers from earlier gently pushed at his chest, moving him backwards in the opposite direction. But last time it had done this he ran like a bat out of hell only to be cornered by it once again, why did it want him to leave again? He took a couple cautious steps back, glancing behind him and then back at the alien before he took off once more. Everything burned as he forced himself to run before he had completely caught his breath from moments prior, but the strongest feeling was the way his stomach clenched in painful knots as it anticipated what was to come. He wanted to have hope, he wanted to believe it was being merciful and that he had a sliver of a chance at escaping back to his old daily life, he wanted it to just </span>
  <em>
    <span>leave him the fuck alone--!</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But it didn’t; it merely stalked a few paces behind him and pounced when it had a good opening, its hands cupping around him and submerging him into almost total darkness. For a split second it was almost comforting being surrounded by total darkness that radiated heat, like if he couldn’t see the rest of the world then he could pretend it hadn’t all gone to shit, but nothing good ever seemed to last for him these days. The hands released him to perch on either side and the creature excitedly chirped again while its tail swished at mach five, obviously having a grand ol’ time with its little game it was forcing Jacob to play. Because that’s all this ever was, a stupid </span>
  <em>
    <span>game</span>
  </em>
  <span> that he had no hope in ever winning because he wasn’t even an actual player, rather the objective to catch and keep over and over. There had never been any chance at him being able to escape his fate of being this creature’s current obsession, but for once instead of feeling his heart ache as hopelessness overcame in, something else stirred inside him. Something bitter and furious and pent up for too long since this whole invasion thing happened!</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It made that same delighted rumbling noise at him when he had yet to move, as if he should know the drill by now, its fingers moving to give him a little nudge when Jacob instead took a large step backwards himself. His body was trembling with something other than fear and he squeezed his hands into fists at his side, keeping his eyes locked in an unwavering gaze of fury on the creature.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No! I’m </span>
  <em>
    <span>done</span>
  </em>
  <span> running!” He practically scolded, resisting the urge to stamp his foot like a child, “I don’t want to play your fucking games anymore! I’m not a </span>
  <em>
    <span>toy</span>
  </em>
  <span>!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The creature tilted its head at him, its tail slowing considerably but Jacob knew it was out of confusion from not being able to understand his outburst rather than actually considering his words that, you know what? he </span>
  <em>
    <span>is</span>
  </em>
  <span> a living, breathing person and should be treated with respect and not be forced to have eight panic induced heart attacks a day for the entertainment of someone else, what a concept! He hoped the creature had plenty of time to spare because suddenly Jacob had quite a lot to say.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>--</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>No way. The little one was actually </span>
  <em>
    <span>pouting</span>
  </em>
  <span> at him!</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That was simply too precious, Edix nearly scooped it up to nuzzle then and there. It lost two little games of chase and it was actually mad at him for not being able to win, as if it was his fault it had evolved with tiny legs and no sense of hunting prowess. The way its sweet brown eyes narrowed and its baby face tried to pull some sort of intimidating frown made him snicker again and oh boy did it </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> like that.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He wished he could understand what it was saying because he was sure it was equally funny to listen to as it was to watch, so animated and lively in its incomprehensible rant with a spirit Edix never knew it even possessed. That was all the more wonderful to see, the fact that the little one wasn’t all terror and submission but actually had a spitfire personality once he was able to coax it out. Its eyes were leaking again but that didn’t seem to slow its resolve, constantly pointing at him and gesturing around the area like it was accusing him of doing something. Technically, he was doing quite a lot of things, but he was dying to know the specifics that enraged the human so.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Its stamina was starting to drain after a few more choice words, long streams of sentences now cut with heavy breaths as it tried to self soothe followed by frustrated stutters that were more directed at itself rather than him. The anger dissipated quickly after that, leaving the little one roughly wiping away the moisture from its eyes though they only continued to run after every attempt. It bowed its head and kept rubbing its face like it was trying to obscure it from his view, like it was ashamed at its actions.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe this wasn’t as amusing as he thought anymore. It was one thing to see it frightened and jumpy and always ready to hit the ground running, but this time there was no unfounded panic in its distress, only pure </span>
  <em>
    <span>misery</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Misery that he and his kind were responsible for.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Edix sympathized with it, he really did, but didn’t the little one understand he was only trying to help it out of this already dreadful situation. Regardless of how well it would have fared in its own natural environment it simply wasn’t cut out to be able to take care of itself now. It was too weak to carry its own weight in any pack and, while it wasn’t nice to admit it, his fellow soldiers typically exterminated humans rather than engage with them. He could take care of it, make sure it lived a long and happy life, wasn’t that preferable compared to trying to win a war with a superior alien race that didn’t even know it was participating?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He cooed softly at it in reassurance, moving his hands to cup around its shuddering form only to finch his hands away when snapped some kind of angry yell at him, stepping out of his current reach and determinedly drying its damp face on its sleeve. It said something to him, but the bite in its tone was watered down significantly, then it turned on its heel and briskly walked deeper into the thick foliage without a second glance back at him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Did it just ignore him to finish its tantrum in private? A little uncalled for in his opinion.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The little human really was just a pup it seemed. He gave a heavy sigh and waited a few moments before getting up to follow in the direction that it left, trying to give it adequate time to calm down but not wanting it to get used to the idea it could throw these fits with him. Its sweet scent entangled with his own made the earthling easy to track, though he noted with some annoyance that rather than take a straight path it made several turns at random intervals and even looped back a few times, like it was trying to throw Edix off its trail. A good attempt, but it would appear humans </span>
  <em>
    <span>still</span>
  </em>
  <span> didn’t understand how predator instincts worked. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Assuming it had speed walked the entire time it shouldn’t have made it very far, yet as he drew closer to a wide riverbed its scent steadily grew weaker until it was too dispersed to be able to follow in a clear path. It wasn’t like the little one could have disappeared into thin air, but while he looked around the area and even swiped at the water to try to startle any reaction that could point to the human’s whereabouts, it simply was nowhere to be found. Its tracks ended here and there were no additional scents of humans or his kind in the area to suggest something had taken it, not even the faintest hint of copper and bitter decay that might imply it had met a grisly end.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His little pet was simply </span>
  <em>
    <span>gone</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>What's this? An open ending? Almost as if its implying there will be a third and final part to this series that was intended to be a oneshot? Neato (:</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Jacob Gets The Happy Ending He Deserves And Lives A Long And Healthy Stress-Free Life In Florida</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>This isn’t the first time he’s been sent off with a troop into unknown territory to map out and possibly ambush one of the aliens, but maybe it’ll end up differently this time.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Bienvenidos power bottoms and welcome to the end. It’s been a journey considering this was supposed to be one single chapter but here we are, I guess. I hope you enjoyed, and if you didn’t then keep your negativity to yourself because I don’t need your bad vibes in these trying times of G/t monsterboys and fearplay recession. </p>
<p>Also I need a gosh dang beta because I have no concept of proofreading until after my work is posted but it feels weird asking the Tumblr G/t community because I’m a gore/horror blog so you’d see my post like “hi guys would anyone be able to take the time to read my story please and thank you X(:” and then you click my URL and the first post is a pair of anime tits covered in blood being eviscerated. The duality of man or something.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>
    <span>I’m not here, I’m not here, go away, I’m not here!</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jacob clamped both of his trembling hands over his mouth and nose, nearly suffocating himself but refusing to take the chance of a single loud exhale giving away his position to the creature that was searching for him. It was almost reminiscent of the first time they had the displeasure of meeting, however this time the creature </span>
  <em>
    <span>was</span>
  </em>
  <span> looking for him and Jacob couldn’t rely on a lucky shot considering he had no weapon. Instead, he hunkered down deeper into what he assumed used to be an animal den on the very edge of the riverbed. Freezing, muddy water that only sat an inch high chilled his legs while he prayed the overpowering scent of rich soil was enough to conceal his body heat. Or scent. Or whatever the hell it was these things used to track.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He could hear it carefully move around the small radius of the area, mindful to keep its steps light and its movements slow while it scanned with the keen eye of a predator. Did the helmet help pick out hidden targets, he wondered. Could it digitally track footprints or outline full bodies, or did The Next Generation lie about that, too? Whether it could or couldn’t, the creature still had yet to find the abandoned burrow Jacob had crammed himself into. With how damp the soil walls were and the puddle of water that had yet to drain even in this weather, he guessed that maybe this animal den had flooded regularly given it was right against the river, hollowing it out a little deeper each rainfall. Hopefully, that meant he was covered with the mixed scents of various wildlife that had also taken shelter in this hole in drier seasons.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was quiet for a moment, but by now Jacob knew better than to assume that all was calm and good in the world. There was a loud impact above, splashing into the trickling river enough to turn it into a geyser for a second, gallons of water sloshing over the edges and running down into his den until he was submerged to his waist. He almost cried out, but the tightening of his body in shock caused his hands to squeeze harder over his mouth, smothering any attempt at oxygen leaving his body. His legs were quickly going numb now that they were completely soaked in icy water and he worried that after all this it was going to be hypothermia that took him out, or at least took his legs. Guess the creature wouldn’t have to worry about him running off anymore, huh?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The giant alien was moving around again, growling in contemplation or annoyance (maybe both) before it started to backtrack the original path it had followed, probably trying to see if there was a different route to be taken that would lead to Jacob’s true whereabouts. Even as its steps faded and the silence was broken by the serene return of rushing water and birdsong he refused to move an inch, not even to take a proper breath. This had to be a trick, another joke, there was no way it actually let Jacob go that easily. It must be waiting for him to poke his head out, maybe give him a five second head start before pouncing from the other side of the river. It just...it couldn’t have just </span>
  <em>
    <span>left</span>
  </em>
  <span>, right?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Agonizing seconds ticked to minutes yet the calm lull of nature had still not given anything away, alien being or otherwise. The tingling in his lower half was getting significantly more painful the longer he stayed hidden but he had been burned too many times running out of his shelter when he thought he was in the clear only to be proven very wrong moments later. He wanted to stay hidden forever, to never give the creature an opportunity to catch him and to never give himself false hope that maybe this would be the time he’d make a successful escape, waterlogged limbs be damned.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Time moved funny for Jacob recently; had he been sitting in a hole full of dirty water for five minutes or for five hours? It didn’t feel very long, but neither had this entire day and yet it was already midday when he recalled he hadn’t even stepped foot outside until a little after dawn. Was it already the afternoon before or after he had his nervous breakdown? Maybe that was how he should start measuring time, by how long ago his last panic attack was. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Be pretty easy to count the day in ten minute intervals.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The constant rush of water in Jacob’s ears very nearly drowned out the sound of another rumbling coming from above, quickly approaching his general vicinity. His instincts gloated over the fact that they had been right in knowing the silence was just a ruse to lure him out, but as the noise drew closer they sounded...off. It didn’t vibrate as intensely as a purr and was nowhere near as deep as a growl, humming in an endless stream without being interrupted by a single exhale. Leaves and fallen branches crunched underneath its path yet the standing trees remained unbothered, as did the birds that nested within them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The strangest thing about it was that while it wasn’t the noises he had unfortunately grown accustomed to, they weren’t completely unfamiliar either. In an act of bravery or stupidity, Jacob shakily pulled himself up to peek out of the burrow to find the source of the intrusion, ignoring the sharp ache that radiated through his frozen legs while hoping he wasn’t about to get his head ripped off in the process. He didn’t see anything at first and it was hard to tell the exact direction it was coming from, but as the steady rumble came closer so did the visible movement in the distance. Small, boxy, shaky, definitely not one of those giant bastards. Colors became more visible but only barely, patches of muted greens and browns that blended into the foliage only broken by the occasional odd color of black or silver.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>It was a military jeep...it was a human!</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And it was almost about to pass him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jacob fought with his own useless limbs as he scrambled out of his hideaway, slipping on the muddy patches of earth several times before finally getting his bearings long enough to stumble in front of the vehicle’s path. The jeep slowed until it pulled up next to him, the female soldier at the wheel looking neat and clean and very perturbed by his current state. He couldn’t fault her apprehension at his appearance, with his clothes soaked and filthy, knees buckling and panting like he hadn’t been able to breathe in days, with how pristine she looked in comparison it was possible she had yet to face the horrors of battle herself.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Dude,” she said, giving his trembling form a once over, “You look like shit.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jacob barked out an incredulous laugh, bracing his hands against the truck like he was making sure it was real. His first conversation with another human, a pretty girl no less, and it’s about how god awful he looks, “Yeah, well, I feel like it, too.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Where’s your band of merry men?” she asked, jerking her head to the side as a gesture for him to get in, which Jacob hastily agreed to.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Dead.” He climbed into the passenger seat and almost immediately went limp now that there was no strain of standing upright, “Butchered by one of those fuckers.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She looked at him in sympathy and resignation, “Shit, man, I’m sorry. What troop were they? I can turn back if there’s any surviv-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No!” Jacob lunged forward and clung to her arm, halting her from shifting the gear into reverse. Her shocked expression wasn’t as intense as the fear in his eyes, but he relented his hold apologetically, “No, no you can’t go back, please we-we can’t ever go back…!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright, alright, Christ, I’m sorry,” she not so subtly moved her arm off the console to prevent him from grabbing her again, “So you’re just the lone survivor, I take it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He swallowed thickly and nodded, “Yeah...of, uh, of Troop 216, since you asked.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her eyes narrowed at him in suspicion, “Troop 216?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“...yes?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Troop 216 was recovered almost two days ago, with no survivors.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“...okay?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay,” she repeated slowly, “So where the hell have you been then, considering we’re about thirty-five miles west of their initial base site?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jesus, was he really that far from his camp? Jacob guessed he could see how that might seem a little iffy to escape such a bloodbath and further survive an additional 48 hours unarmed in an alien infested forest with no supplies...just a little.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I, um…,” God how did he even begin to explain the hell he’s been through without sounding totally insane </span>
  <em>
    <span>and</span>
  </em>
  <span> pathetic, “I, well I mean, when we were first attacked I...hid.” he cringed at his own cowardliness, “But after it left I tried to get help. Well, not help for my team, because they were all dead and that’s kind of useless, but, you know what I mean, right?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She blinked at him in silence.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Right, anyways, the-the creature that had attacked us found me. Or, actually, I found </span>
  <em>
    <span>it</span>
  </em>
  <span>, but that doesn’t matter, and then it...um, it…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>It fucking smiled at me and nuzzled me and purred and then I almost pissed it off but then it fucking ate my gun and then it grabbed me in its god damn sharp mouth and bat me around like a cat toy and then I passed out but when I woke up it was cuddling me with its actually super soft tail and I was inside its base but I escaped through the pipes but surprise surprise that fucker was waiting for me outside and I think it really likes just petting me and holding me but then it put me down and was like ‘okay leave’ so I did that but turns out that was just a game of chase so I yelled at it which probably meant jackshit because obviously it doesn’t understand this language so I told it to piss off and hid in a hole which turned out to be my saving grace because for once that fucker couldn’t find me and honestly I was pretty content in living the rest of my life in my own tiny marsh but then you came and all so also I’m pretty sure I cried like eleven times so that’s cool too I guess and</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It took me.” Was what he settled on.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her eyes widened at that, raising an eyebrow, “It </span>
  <em>
    <span>took </span>
  </em>
  <span>you. Alive. And let you go. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Alive</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jacob squirmed in his seat, the cold wet fabric of his uniform suddenly unbearable, “N-not exactly. I, I mean, I escaped. That’s why I was in that ditch, to hide.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Holy hell, dude.” She sank back into her seat, taking in his very abridged tale, “You actually got all up and close with, like, the biggest threat to mankind and </span>
  <em>
    <span>survived</span>
  </em>
  <span>. That’s crazy.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Tell me about it.” He sighed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“More like you need to tell </span>
  <em>
    <span>me</span>
  </em>
  <span> about it.” She finally took her foot off the brake to gun the accelerator, the force making Jacob’s heart race as if he was being swooped into the air for the umpteenth time, “And by me, I mean my captain, because this shit is bananas.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re taking me back to your base?” Oh god, dare he be hopeful about this? Was the promise of being surrounded by his similar sized species and the safety of their expansive weapons really within reach?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The soldier gave him the side eye, “Well, when you jumped in front of my jeep I kind of assumed you wanted a ride anyways, unless you want me to drop you back off at your hole?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Fuck, please,” He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, willing his body to relax in the comfort of manmade machines and human company, “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Anywhere</span>
  </em>
  <span> is better than here.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>--</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Now, I just want to make sure I’m understanding your story, so correct me where I’m wrong,” Captain Andrews said slowly, flipping through his pad of notes on his desk.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jacob nodded, anxiously pulling at the hems of the sleeves on his new uniform that hung a little too loose on his lithe body. The soldier that had driven him here, Angie, had joked that they’d have him bunk in the mess hall for the time being until he packed some more meat on his bones, but even after fasting for two days he could barely finish half a tray of typical rations. As if he needed to be any smaller.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“After your platoon was ambushed, and once again I’m terribly sorry for the loss of your brothers,” Jacob didn’t bother correcting him that he honestly didn’t care since those dumbasses brought their demise on themselves, “You were captured by the same alien and taken to its personal base. Now, why would it feel the need to do that, do you think, son?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I...I’m not sure,” He answered in total honesty, he still didn’t know what it fully wanted beyond a few minutes of playtime, “I was unconscious when it took me, I think...I think maybe it was curious about humans, too? Like we are about them?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“If it was so ‘curious’ then why did it massacre thirty of our American heroes, hell probably more, but deem you unlucky enough to survive?” The captain wasn’t necessarily accusatory, but he was skeptical at the idea these murderous beasts had any instincts other than to main and destroy good American values.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, they attacked it first!” They were no heroes, they could have still been alive if they used their thick skulls to think about survival rather than glory, “I didn’t, and-and maybe that’s how I got on its good side or something…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Captain Andrews hummed in consideration, thumbing through a few more pages, “And what about its base? What stood out about it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He pursed his lips as he thought, trying to recall anything that his superior might deem useless information but only drawing a blank. Taking in the interior design and gushing about its modern open concept layout wasn’t exactly his biggest concern as he was running for his life in the vents, “Uh, it was...big? I mean, no, obviously it was big, but like, I think it was a base </span>
  <em>
    <span>just</span>
  </em>
  <span> for that one creature? Maybe they all have personal bases or...maybe that one was high ranking like you, sir?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“As if the government would hand out private bases for their top personnel.” He snorted.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jacob gave a nervous smile, “R-right. That’s really all I can think of though. I wasn’t there long...oh, but it was really white inside? Like, super clean and neat and all.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, good, that really gives a lot of insight on their kind knowing they’re subscribed to to a homes and gardens magazine,” He shook his head and closed his notebook, “I’m just yanking your chain, son, any information is good information right now. We’ve yet to find any of their bases on earth, let alone infiltrate one, and somehow you’ve managed to get into one, get </span>
  <em>
    <span>out</span>
  </em>
  <span> of one, survive an encounter and see what those bastards really look like. If I could, I’d give you three medals right now on the spot.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jacob furrowed his brow, “Wait, but couldn’t you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The captain laughed, standing from his chair and walking over to him to clasp a firm hand on his shoulder, “It’s good to see someone young like you hasn’t lost their sense of humor yet.” He sighed, his expression turning serious and suddenly reminding Jacob that they really were still in the middle of a war with an infallible enemy, “But this is where it gets unpleasant…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This entire situation was unpleasant, both the initial alien invasion and this conversation in general, but Jacob still nodded at his commanding officer, “Yes, sir?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We could probably assume all these bases were structurally the same, but since we don’t know where any others are we can’t actually compare.” Captain Andrews leaned against his desk and crossed his arms over his chest, “But we </span>
  <em>
    <span>do</span>
  </em>
  <span> know where one is and as a result we </span>
  <em>
    <span>do</span>
  </em>
  <span> know it has pipework that leads directly from the outside into just about any quarter within.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jacob didn’t like where this was going, “Yes, sir.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But the actual location of said base is only known by you, son.” Yep. There it was.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I-I don’t really know where it is, sir,” he stuttered, fidgeting in his seat and trying not to appear completely undone by a simple implication, “I didn’t keep track of which directions I headed or the turns I took, I swear I couldn’t begin to tell you which way it might be from here!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The captain didn’t look deterred in the slightest, “But we’d at least be in the general ballpark of where it is if we took you back to the river Private Santiago picked you up at, wouldn’t we?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That was unfortunately very true and honestly if Jacob really tried, he might actually be able to retrace his steps close enough to stumble upon the creature’s setup once again. But for the love of God why would he want to!? Why would </span>
  <em>
    <span>anyone</span>
  </em>
  <span> want to!? He was supposed to be safe here and now they wanted to put him at the frontlines for a suicide mission that he just escaped from!</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His silence was a good enough answer for the captain who gave his shoulder a comforting pat, “We can’t do this without you, son. You’re our best hope yet in winning this war.” He knew they were false praises meant to butter him up with confidence, “You won’t be going through this alone, in fact I even promise you that you’ll be nothing more than a navigator. Just ride along in the tank, tell ‘em where to go and let my squadrons infiltrate on their own. First sight of anything going south and you’ll already be in an armored vehicle to steer clear.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>No. No no no, he couldn’t do this, he couldn’t believe this was happening, not after everything he’s been through, not after how much he fought to escape. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You need rest, son, I doubt you’ve gotten much lately. Team’ll be heading out at 0800. You’re dismissed.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jacob stood on command, basic training too ingrained to disobey orders regardless of his emotional turmoil. His blank face and stiff posture betrayed the whirlwind of emotions inside him, but what else could he do? If he stayed, he’d been sent to enemy territory in the morning. If he left, he’d be out in enemy territory unarmed. If he disobeyed? Did he even want to think what desperate military leaders would do to him?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As he opened the office door, the captain called out to him, “Private Sanford, before you go…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh, yes, sir?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’ve seen these things without their helmets and such...what are those little,” he gestured to the top of his head, “pointed doohickies for, do you know?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jacob blinked a few times as the question registered, “Ears, sir.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Huh. Well how about that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>--</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jacob couldn’t stop shaking though it was hardly noticeable with the harsh movements of the tank bouncing it occupants around as it traversed the uneven terrain. The other two soldiers across from him didn’t seem phased in the slightest, one busy directing coordinates off a map from his pad to the driver and the other staring at Jacob as if he was as interesting as watching paint dry. He kept his gaze on the floor, wanting to pretend like he wasn’t being escorted back to a certain doom but with each jerk of the compartment he was reminded that he was just a little closer than last time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Did you know they’re maneaters?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His head suddenly snapped up to look at the man--Simmons, the patch on his chest said--eyes wide but not quite understanding, “I’m sorry?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The aliens. They’re maneaters.” He said so casually, like he was talking about the weather, “Sometimes when they hunt us, they like to use their teeth instead. I’ve never seen it in action, but even seen plenty of the aftermath, only a couple of bones and blood puddles.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Okay. This guy was seriously fucked up. And Jacob sincerely hoped that after all was said and done he’d get some top of the line PTSD treatment for all the carnage he’s seen, “But, if you’ve never seen it happening, how do you know that’s true?” Oh God, why was he actually continuing this conversation?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Simmons shrugged, “You can tell.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright...good to know.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And then they were back to a heavy silence, only now Jacob had the pleasure of envisioning himself being gutted by fangs instead of affectionately nuzzled. He wasn’t sure if he really </span>
  <em>
    <span>believed</span>
  </em>
  <span> that but...well, it wasn’t necessarily out of the realms of possibility. They were predators, humans were deemed prey, and he had already been subjected to their love of catch and release many times. Would it really eat him after all that? Had it already been planning to do so from the beginning?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sanford, you’re up!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He had been dreading this moment, the moment when he would be needed. The other soldier, Romanov, handed the GPS pad to him, “Driver says we’re right on the river, about fifty feet give or take from where you were picked up. What’s the orientation we need to go and for how many miles?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jacob looked at the map and tried to use his internal navigation to remember which direction he was facing and what turns he had taken, “Um, northeast, I think. Maybe, like, half a mile?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Romanov looked less than impressed with his sense of direction, clearly holding very little faith in the navigator Captain Andrews had declared so essential to their mission, “Northeast. Half mile. Tell the convoy to tag our point.” He instructed the driver.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The rest of the journey continued in a similar fashion; Romanov would ask him for the next set of directions, Jacob would give him some that vaguely sounded right, and Simmons would occasionally pipe up to offer more gruesome fun facts about the creatures as if they weren’t about to make a house call to one. Except, maybe they weren’t. Jacob was completely lost and he wasn’t sure how intentional that was or not, but it felt like every new turn he gave them led them farther away from where the base </span>
  <em>
    <span>might</span>
  </em>
  <span> be. Or maybe he was still on the right track, he had no fucking clue! It was both a relief and another spike of anxiety the longer it took to spot anything that might be alien made. On one hand, good, there was no worry about running into his dear friend. On the other hand, he knew everyone was getting agitated and he was definitely aware of just how high the stakes were at this point and it felt like he was fucking around.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>What would happen when it was finally concluded that he had no idea where he was or the location of the coveted base? Would it be worse than spending the remainder of his life as a chew toy for one of the monsters? Debatable.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The tank lurched to a halt and Jacob would have tumbled off his seat had it not been for the wall that he slammed into with a groan. He looked frantically between the other two men, Romanov shouting something back and forth with the driver before yelling at Simmons to man the gun. Oh no. No, they couldn’t be there already. He may not know exactly where he was but he knew it was absolutely not at the front door of any alien base he had come across. So then what was the need for defense unless…</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Unless another creature found them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He couldn’t see a damn thing but he knew the chaos was immeasurable from the muffled sounds alone, choruses of soldiers shouting and firing an assortment of guns either strapped to their chests or mounted on the back of their vehicles. Jeeps and HMMWVs were ripped to shreds if the squeals of metal were anything to go by, often followed by the silence of a dozen or so soldiers. The gun above him fired several rounds as fast as Simmons could load them but it didn’t sound like it was making much of a difference, and all Jacob could do was sit there and listen to the demise of a convoy he never wanted to lead out here to begin with.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The captain had promised him that the second they ran into trouble they’d be the first to fallback and yet this metal prison still hadn’t moved an inch, why did they feel the need to stay and fight? Of course, he had no idea if this attack was unprovoked or not but judging on how efficiently it seemed to be in silencing an entire platoon this was probably nothing more than a mundane, routine massacre for the creature. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Shit!” Romanov yelled, hands going a mile a minute as he tried to send out a distress signal on his pad, as if a rescue crew would be able to do anything more than add a couple more bodies to the pile, “Fucking hit it, Simmons, it’s not that hard to miss it!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The hell do you think I’m d-</span>
  <em>
    <span>AGH!</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Something slammed into the side of the tank, sending Jacob crashing into Romanov and onto the floor, the driver only saved by his seatbelt. There was no time for an apology or an order or a wellness check as the gun above was ripped off the top of the tank as easy as a pull tab, the hatch taken along with it and only a moment later so was Simmons. Even while trying to push himself off his troop mate who was busy yelling at their driver to</span>
  <em>
    <span> go, go, we’re fucked, just gun it already! </span>
  </em>
  <span>he couldn’t help but shudder at the wet crunch human bodies were never supposed to make. The driver hadn’t even had the time to accelerate when a pair of hands grabbed the edge of the hatch open and yanked in opposite directions, ripping the thick metal like aluminum as it tore a new opening that had much easier access to the occupants inside.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jacob was lucky enough to miss the hand that came shooting in by ducking to the farthest corner of the tank, almost cracking his head on the metal bench but only winding himself instead. Romanov wasn’t as fortunate even as he tried to push himself out of the way, only adding the driver as collateral when the hand roughly closed around him and the seat, tugging them out like it was pulling weeds. The seatbelt that had once saved the man from minor injuries now was the reason for his demise, keeping his lower half strapped firmly in place while his torso and half a dozen organs were wretched out along with a struggling Romanov. There was a squish and pitter patter of liquid raining down, and then there was nothing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>What a sick sense of deja vu he was feeling at the moment, only this time he wouldn’t live to re-experience it a third time when the now blood soaked hand returned and reached for him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, no, no, don’t, please!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The hand stilled in its descent and Jacob thought that maybe it was actually about to grant him mercy, but whatever hangup it had faded quickly and deft fingers curled around his writhing frame with ease to carefully pull him out into the blinding light of midday. In the position he was in his back was to the alien, its hand tipped forward at a slight angle so that its fingers only loosely caged him without having to worry about him sliding off. From here he could see that the creature was on its knees and, more glaringly, surrounded in a sea of blood and ground meat accented by a few military vehicles that looked as if they’d gone through a junk compactor three times.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He could hear movement behind him and soon after he saw it place its helmet on the ground next to it, unbothered by the puddles of gore that were smearing along the sleek exterior. The full thought of wondering why it felt the need to unmask itself hadn’t even finished when Jacob was moving upwards once again, body and breathing going still as he realized he had gone from chest level to face level even if he still couldn’t see what it was doing. He wasn’t sure that he </span>
  <em>
    <span>wanted</span>
  </em>
  <span> to see what it was doing, praying that whatever end it was deciding to give him was that of the quick and painless nature.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Warm air brushed against his back and he was suddenly aware of when he had felt such a sensation before, when he had been picked up in the alien’s mouth. Oh god. Oh god, Simmons was right. He was about to be ground between powerful teeth and have his lungs punctured by sharp fangs, nothing more than a quick bite between human exterminations. His eyes were screwed shut but tears still found a way to escape down his cheeks, his body wound so tight in preparation of being masticated that he couldn’t even utter a sound beyond a whimper when soft lips ghosted across his back.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He was still waiting for the bite even when its nose rubbed up the curve of his spine, soft purrs vibrating through his body and lips parting slightly so that it could gently nip at his uniform, tugging on the hem not unlike a child trying to get an adult’s attention. His eyes blinked open in confusion when it tightened its hold on him and pulled him back from its face, rotating its wrist so that Jacob hung upside down but was now able to actually face the creature full on. And the first thing he noticed was that damn </span>
  <em>
    <span>smile</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Tan skin and a pair of auburn ears that seamlessly blended into short, black curls. A swishing red tail contrasted by vibrant green eyes that looked as excited as its grin. Jacob had to blink away the remaining tears that blurred his vision to make sure that he was seeing the creature correctly but any doubts he had about its identity were dashed when it used its free hand to stifle a small laugh, deeply amused by his shocked expression that still hadn’t fully processed what was happening.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh...h-hi.” was the best Jacob could offer, a rather good offer as this seemed to be something of a correct answer because the creature’s smile brightened significantly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He was turned back right side up but deposited into its other hand, allowing him to face the alien at a much more comfortable angle. As he was trying to ease his dizziness from the constant jarring in orientation, a bloody index finger squished his cheek punctuated by a happy chitter and Jacob cringed when the warm liquid smeared onto him. He swatted the offending digit away to hurriedly scrub the gore off his face as if removing one little spot would make a difference considering he was sitting in an equally red palm, but the creature’s delight wasn’t deterred.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It cooed at him again and moved its finger to ruffle his hair instead, its affectionate touch unrelenting even when Jacob tried to duck his head down to avoid being pet, “So, I take it y-you’re not mad at me for earlier…?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>If it had been then it clearly wasn’t now with how pleased it appeared to find him. Of course it was, it had just found its runaway toy and now the fun could start all over again! This was probably the better alternative in the grand scheme of things because Jacob didn’t want to know what its personalized revenge for him would entail. The hand holding him moved forward to cup him against its chest in a familiar motion and Jacob couldn’t help the second wave of deja vu that washed over him, but this is something he would have </span>
  <em>
    <span>definitely</span>
  </em>
  <span> remembered, right? Not that it mattered when it bent down to scoop up its helmet in its freehand and began walking in the opposite direction he had previously been leading the convoy. Wow, he really was a shit navigator.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“H-hey!” He called out to it, pushing his hands against its chest like he could physically stop it from moving, “Wait, no, put me down! We don’t, we don’t need to go anywhere!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Just like all the other times, his cries fell on deaf ears, though it was probably due to the fact the creature had no idea what his little noises were supposed to mean. Maybe he should have tried to call out for help a little louder but he wasn’t sure it’d even be heard over the deafening rumbles that vibrated him to his core.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>--</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Jesus Christ, what a mess.” Captain Andrews sighed, shaking his head and opening the passenger door to survey the remnants of the impromptu battlefield, “Should’a nuked the bastards before they even got off their ship.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Angie had no intention of stepping out the comfort of the jeep and settled for grimacing at the gory scene from her window, “Do you think they were getting close to the base, sir? Maybe that’s why they got attacked?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Doubt it.” He said, tracing his hand along one of the gouges on the overturned HMMWV, “All the GPS markers said they were going in circles half the time. Kid was probably leading them in the opposite direction, not that it mattered apparently.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you...think he made it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The captain sighed, looking at the wreckage of the tank and the innards that were strewn around it, “I wouldn’t get my hopes up.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She deflated against her seat, heart breaking for the poor boy that had been so blessed by Lady Luck earlier only to have fate catch up with him in the end. Maybe if she had just drove a little faster and alerted the captain of the distress signal a little sooner there’d be a chance they could have saved him from being another tick on the ever growing body count.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Better head back and call for an extraction, there’s nothing left for us here, Private Santiago.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Angie nodded, starting the jeep back up as her superior climbed in, giving one last glance over the viscera and bones like she was expecting to see sudden movement that might signal that one human heart was still beating intact. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“They’re so vicious…” she muttered, morbidly fixated on a body that hung from the trees by its intestines like a sick marionette, “What’s the point for all of this bloodshed? It’s not like we’ve ever even caused enough harm to one to justify this kind of brutality.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s because they’re predators. Sick, twisted fuckers that get their rocks off murdering smaller beings just like any other serial killer. A whole race of sociopaths...wonder what else is out there in the universe.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>--</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jacob couldn’t help the squeak that escaped him when the creature’s tongue suddenly swiped across his back, face going beet red and cringing in mild disgust at the sheer thought that he had just been </span>
  <em>
    <span>licked</span>
  </em>
  <span>. It’s not like it was slobbery or was melting through his skin with acidic tendencies, but it was just...weird. He shimmed his legs out from under the hand that had pinned him down, narrowly avoiding another grooming and trying a different tactic of dodging under its arm rather than around. It was obviously being generous with the headstart it was giving him and even waited for him to be a foot away from the treeline before slamming its arm down in front of him to cut him off.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Damn thing and its damn games; though it was marginally more preferable to being reduced to a puddle along with his fellow soldiers this creature seemed to enjoy wearing him down to exhaustion, of which he was teetering on the edge of after being hassled into another round of chase for the past hour. The arm shifted so that it could snatch him up as it moved back towards the creature, dropping him off right in front of where it was laying on its stomach. It moved its face towards him eagerly and Jacob was already anticipating what it was going to do, instinctively putting his hands up in defense and pushing to keep its lips away which actually surprised the creature into complying.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, no, no, no. We don’t have to do that every time. Or, or at all.” He stuttered, trying to sound firm, like he actually had some power of authority.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The creature had a different idea and opened its mouth, clamping its lips over Jacob’s extended arms. He was as white as a sheet and completely immobile as all he could see were his arms disappearing, flexing his fingers after a beat and letting out half of the breath he was holding when he could still feel them moving and thankfully still on the front side of its teeth. It didn’t stop his fearful cry however which only made the creature smile around his trapped limbs like his fear of amputation was mildly humorous. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It tightened its lips around his arms and pushed itself up on its elbows, causing Jacob to dangle from its mouth which was </span>
  <em>
    <span>not appreciated in the slightest</span>
  </em>
  <span>. He kicked and squirmed but as the creature moved higher to properly sit up Jacob became more paranoid about slipping from its hold and plummeting to his untimely doom. This unbearable grasp didn’t last much longer after it situated itself to lean against the outer wall of its base, cupping its hand underneath him and dropping him in before moving him down lower to lay in the center of its chest. Its hand stayed curled around his lower half while the other lazily rubbed his back with one finger and Jacob could feel his face heat up in embarrassment again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Oh, he hated this. Hated it, hated it. Hated how intimate these actions were and hated how nice it felt. Sometimes he almost couldn’t believe this was the same giant alien that mercilessly destroyed not one, but </span>
  <em>
    <span>two</span>
  </em>
  <span> of the brigades he had been a part of, the hands that just loved to pet him and hold him and touch him were the same ones responsible for the deaths of probably hundreds of humans. When it moved its hands too quickly Jacob would always believe that it was because they were coming to swat him like a fly or pluck off his limbs, and every time it would just be for something so pointlessly casual like brushing back his hair and pulling at his jacket.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He tried to push himself up and put just a fraction of distance between them but the hand that had been idly caressing him moved to gently press him back down, a soft chirp ringing in his ears. He squirmed a little but when the hands refused to budge he ultimately gave up, letting his body turn into deadweight where it lay. It was so unfair. So unfair that out of the billions of humans on earth the creature had chosen him, so unfair that he had practically been delivered to it twice, so unfair that he had no idea what it wanted and even more unfair that it could </span>
  <em>
    <span>do</span>
  </em>
  <span> whatever it wanted from eviscerations to forced cuddling.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But what was really unfair was just how comfortable he was right now, situated over the deep thumping beneath its chest and surrounded by a wonderful heat. His tired, aching body so desperately wanted to relax and at this point Jacob was tired of fighting it. By now if he died then at least he’d die in comfort, he couldn’t have slept more than a total of four hours over the past couple of days and his brain decided he had a lot of catching up to do. He had only closed his eyes for a moment when he was rudely disturbed by its finger prodding his back which he promptly ignored with a whine and curled up tighter.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He didn’t hear it huff out a laugh at him when he instantly fell back asleep.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>--</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Edix was </span>
  <em>
    <span>bored</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The planet’s single star was beginning to obscure itself from view and it just now occurred to him how much time he had wasted laying on the ground doing absolutely nothing. It’s not like there wasn’t anything to be done but the tasks he needed to carry out involved quite a lot of movement and generally the use of two hands to be efficient, all things he could not do at the moment due to the little human nestled into his chest. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was his own fault for putting the little one there to begin with, but the dark rings around its eyes seemed extra prominent against its pasty coloring and the other day it had been rubbing its eyes often though it didn’t look as if it had gotten much rest during the time it had run off. Was that where it had disappeared to prior, somewhere to try to get adequate rest? But then how did it end up in one of those metal boxes with all the other humans being a typical pain in his ass? The little one was lucky he was so familiar with the sound of its squeaks or its baby face would have been squished in a more violent way.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Still, what luck to have found it again! And clearly the little one had missed him, too, when it babbled upon realizing it was him, not to mention how clingy it was being in regards to sleeping on him. It made its displeasure very clear the first time he tried to wake it up and even now it would whimper and shift if he moved too much which was why he had relegated himself to lying on the ground. Of course, he could get up and put the human somewhere else whenever he wanted but...oh, it was just so sleepy and adorable and actually </span>
  <em>
    <span>reciprocating</span>
  </em>
  <span> affection for once! What a relief it was to have finally gotten all of those prey tendencies out of its tiny system and not have to worry about any more mishaps of tantrums or running.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He brushed his thumb against its back and nearly melted when it leaned into the touch, hoping it would do the same when it woke up. Who knew when that would be, though.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A soft beeping caught his attention which he recognized was a signal coming from his helmet next to him. Carefully, he eased one of his hands off of the little one and shushed it when it started to stir from the missing warmth, tugging his helmet close enough to flick two miniature switches in the interior. The computer monitor that was typically displayed inside the visor was now projected in front of him and he swiped the holographic pixels to open the new message he had received from his superiors.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Blah, blah, turn in all collections, blah, blah, remember to sync data pads, blah, blah, departure begins in three sols, blah, blah…</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Wait, that last part was actually important.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Edix read over the instructions again and sure enough they had been given the official order to start moving out and return to the appropriate docked ship. The data collection must have finally reached the minimum quota to form a basic index for universal reference, or maybe even the captains were getting bored of this dull planet and its lack of technology and communications. It was about time, he was starting to go a little stir crazy and was dying to return to the peaceful voyages between stars where real wonders could actually be observed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He wondered what the humans would do when they finally left. Probably rejoice and try to rebuild their pathetic society but maybe this would serve as a lesson to start hustling and catch up with all the other space faring species, or at least learn to stop being such pests when the next grouping of foreign species came. One little human wouldn’t have to worry about any of that, though and Edix was already smiling at the thought of showing the sweet little thing the great big universe it had yet to explore, how exciting!</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>What a fun surprise </span>
  <em>
    <span>that </span>
  </em>
  <span>was going to be.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I have another monsterboy G/t fic that was actually PLANNED to be multi-chaptered but I think I might work on a couple of (actual) oneshots first before I start another project. A big chunk of my writing time is mostly limited to the weekends because even though schools are currently closed for quarantine, preschools are the exception and guess where ya girl works. </p>
<p>Jokes on them though because I’ve been coughed and sneezed on by kids for months my immune system is impenetrable by now.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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